Advantages

Disadvantages

A cute looking herb chopper but a little too small to be really useful

My husband's cousin and his wife are frequent visitors at our house and vice versa and each time they come they always seem to find an unusual gift to bring ( I struggle somewhat when it is our turn!). During a visit last summer, our friends, visiting our new house for the first time, bought us this Joseph Joseph Compact Herb Chopper, which looked incredibly cute. Now, I don't own very much from the Joseph Joseph range but what I do have I like, and I always like to browse their other products when in a household shop. Now, I'm pretty sure our friends bought this in a local department store, however I have seen it retail online for just under £20, which is pricey but I think they paid less, so worth hunting around.

My husband grows vegetables, some fruit and has a little herb area, so this was the reason for our friends choice in gift, and it was predominately for me who does almost all of the cooking. Now, I already own a pair of herb chopping scissors which are very good, but I really loved the look of this from the moment they gave it. It really is a lovely design, with the blade part being safely tucked inside the small round chopping board, which is brilliant when you have young children around. The handle of the blade for chopping has a great grip and is comfortable to hold and move. When you want to chop some herbs etc you simply pull out the rounded blade from inside the board and chop it on top of the circular board, which stays in place extremely well - however this is probably the biggest problem lies. There isn't a lot of room and if you chopping any sizeable amount you really need to do your chopping on a proper chopping board. In the summer time I use a lot of chives from the garden. The blade on this chopper is very good and I find it chops the chives very well and very easily, however I quickly run out of room on the circular board and it is the same for other herbs I have chopped.

That said, I think it is a nifty looking piece of kitchen equipment and I do like that there is somewhere safe to store the chopper so little hands can't get to it. I find the chopper good and my only complaint is that to cut any sizeable amount the circular chopping board really isn't much use.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

An easy to store and easy to use herb chopper.

I brought my husband a Joseph Joseph Compact Herb Chopper for Christmas last year. He loves kitchen gadgets so I thought it would be a useful present as we cook a lot of fresh food but neither of us are great at chopping up fresh herbs.

It is a hollow circular disk measuring 4cm high with a diameter of 17.5cm. It is green in colour, but the handle of the chopper which fits inside it is grey. The surface of the chopping board is concave so that it is easier to chop the herbs and help to keep them in the middle where they can be chopped.

It is very easy to use. You just remove the double bladed cutter from the disc by sliding it out of the side, place the herbs which need chopping in the centre of the board and then roll the blades backwards and forwards in a rocking motion across the herbs applying pressure to ensure that the blades chop the herbs. The handle is smooth and comfortable to hold, and suitable for both right and left handed people.

It is easy to clean although apparently not dishwasher safe. I have never tried it in the dishwasher but I have a friend who has one and regular puts hers in the dishwasher with no ill effect so far!, Once dried the blade fits back in the space tucked inside the board ready to be stored somewhere.

Overall it is a great product. It has two blades for using more efficiently and the blades are easily and safely put away when not in use. It looks good and is small to store. It is only suitable for small amounts of herbs due to the small surface area of the board, so would not be suitable for someone wanting to chop a large amount. It does take a while to get everything chopped but as the motion to chop is so easy and comfortable it is no hardship.

Its definitely not a kitchen must have, but as we have one we do use it and it works well. 4 stars from me.

The Joseph Joseph Compact Herb Chopper is available from Amazon for £20 including delivery. I think this is rather a lot for what it is, but generally chopping boards seem to be expensive.